HOWE ROOM: Latest on grounded ship: Clean up now, bill later

Tory MLA Alfie MacLeod was surprised to win Dipper support for a resolution last week calling for the House to remind the government to take the lead and pay for the cleanup of the MV Miner off Scatarie Island and send out bills later.

It would be expected such a plea would be voted down with a nay from the NDP, who have said the federal government should take responsibility. But somehow, with NDP House leader Frank Corbett not in the legislature that day, the resolution got through.

A little embarrassing politically, but with the House merely delivering a reminder, the govenrnment apparently wasn’t bound to action.

Premier Darrell Dexter was meeting with federal Transport Minister Denis Lebel in Ottawa on Wednesday, the day the resolution passed, again urging them to take charge of the cleanup.

The premier flatly rejected the idea of paying first and sending out bills later. “If we did that, they would never pay,” he said.

Percy Paris, economic and rural development and tourism minister, didn’t think much of being called on a quote in question period.

Tory House leader Chris d’Entremont wanted to know how Paris could claim the government got an A rating from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business for tax competitiveness for this year’s budget. “We’re in the House of Assembly, and if Chris d’Entremont or anybody wants to be immature and be childish, that’s out of my control,” the minister huffed Friday.

D’Entremont complained to House Speaker Gordie Gosse that Paris didn’t table the document with that A rating. The Tory said he couldn’t find it on the CFIB website and wanted Paris to admit the rating doesn’t exist.

As is often the case in the House, it turns out both honorable members were selective in their claims.

CFIB spokeswoman Leanne Hachey said the A rating did exist but on the narrow issues of modest tax relief for families and businesses requested to be in the budget. Those came in the form of a reduction in the small business tax rate and a pledge for future HST relief.

That rating disappears in the big picture, she said.

Said Hachey: “Our tax competitiveness as a province overall is miserable.”

This year’s batch of MLA disclosure statements arrived at Province House last week, after conflict-of-interest commissioner Merlin Nunn signed off.

They were due June 30, but some trickled in through the summer and fall.

Filed annually, the information includes things like remuneration, investments, whether the MLA owes or is owed money (more than $10,000) and gifts of $250 or more.

The documents are, on the whole, pretty bland. For many MLAs, the pages between their identifying information and signature were blank.

There are a number of landlords in the House, including New Democrats Percy Paris, Gary Ramey, Denise Peterson-Rafuse, Howard Epstein and Maureen MacDonald, and Liberals Karen Casey and Geoff MacLellan, all of whom list rental properties. Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil noted that he had sold his Dartmouth rental property in the spring.

A handful reported remuneration other than their MLA-related pay, including pensions for New Democrats Ross Landry (RMCP), Marilyn More (teacher), Ramey (teacher) and Maurice Smith (Nova Scotia Legal Aid).

Dipper John MacDonell leases out a campground, and colleague Vicki Conrad is a partner in Millennium Gardens Farm. Tories Allan MacMaster and Eddie Orrell did a little work on the side as a financial adviser and physiotherapist, respectively, to keep their professional credentials current.

New Democrat Gary Burrill and Liberal Andrew Younger get a few bucks in royalties from published or broadcast works. Liberal Michel Samson checked off remuneration for being an associate with Boudrot Rodgers Law, and Epstein for being an adjunct professor at Dalhousie University. Dexter listed the federal NDP, which covered expenses for appearing at the national leadership convention.

Tory Jamie Baillie had, by far, the most robust investment portfolio. Epstein holds a substantial number of securities, too; the opposition may chuckle that they included IBM, recent recipient of a provincial contract that will see jobs moved out of government, anathema to some New Democrats.

MLAs must file a separate disclosure statement for their spouses and dependent children.

The Conflict of Interest Act passed two years ago says the MLAs’ statements will be put on a website, but that has yet to happen.